Residential care facilities, particularly long-term residential care nursing facilities, must provide a considerable measure of protection to residents who may be impaired in their ability to care for themselves or to exercise sound judgment. Inherent in such care is the need to routinely confine residents to beds, chairs, showers, or other defined spaces or support apparatus. Accordingly, it is known to provide bed, chair, shower, and room occupancy monitoring systems to alert staff or attendants of inappropriate patient movement or mishaps.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,297 to Joseph teaches a bed monitoring system including a capacitive sensor pad for placement under a patient. The pad comprises a foam plastic pad and heavy aluminum foil plates laminated on opposite sides of the foam. The plates are then adhesively bonded to the inner surfaces of an outer cover. The capacitor of the pad is connected in circuit with an oscillator and produces a frequency-related output. A ripple counter establishes a frequency-related output proportional to the capacitance. A microprocessor reads the counter output and samples are averaged to establish a reference base and the true weight affect of the patient on the sensing pad. Other factors which might effect the signal are readily attended to by programmed compensation. Each subsequent sample is averaged and compared with the reference base. If within a permitted range, the latest and current signal is averaged with the reference base and establishes a new base, and continuously tracks changes in the sensing system. A selected change in a selected time delay system actuates an alert or alarm system, which requires positive resetting to terminate the alarm system. The system is positively reset to return to normal position monitoring. The system may be set to automatically reset the alarm system after an alarm condition is established and then removed by the continuous tracking of the patient movement.
Also illustrative of the art, U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,694 to Newham discloses a mobile patient monitoring system. The system includes a load sensor which detects the presence of a patient on a device and further includes a microprocessor responsive to a resident program. A first circuit connected to the microprocessor and to the sensor automatically activates operation of the microprocessor to a “monitor” mode upon detection by the sensor of the patient's presence on the device; it maintains operation of the microprocessor for a predetermined time period at least equal to a running time of the program; and it terminates operation of the microprocessor at the expiration of the predetermined time period after detection by the sensor of termination of the patient's presence on the device prior to expiration of the predetermined time period. A second circuit operates the system in response to commands manually applied to the second circuit to deactivate the system to a “hold/reset” mode after activating of the system to the “monitor” mode. The first circuit will also activate the system to the “monitor” mode after the system has been deactivated to the “hold/reset” mode together with subsequent detection by the sensor of termination of the patient's presence on the device and resumption of the patient's presence on the device. Alternatively, the microprocessor is responsive to the manually operable switch in the second circuit to activate the system to the “monitor” mode after the system has been deactivated to the “hold/reset” mode. A third circuit connected to the microprocessor provides an audio alarm upon demand by the microprocessor.
The present invention provides advantages over prior art systems in that the system sends either a wireless signal or an electrical signal over wire to a remote alarm or monitor (e.g., further than six feet from the bed, floor, chair, shower, or other patient area being monitored). The system may be always on, i.e., it may be a system having no on/off switch or circuit, and therefore always monitoring; or it may be a system selectively turned on or off manually by authorized personnel. When a patient is present and comprises a weight or load on a load sensor in a bed mat, floor mat, chair mat, or the like, the mat activates the alarm device (i.e., the monitor) to place it in the operating mode. Alternatively, the monitor can be placed in an operating mode manually. In either case, when the patient or care home resident moves off from the mat, an RF or electrical signal is sent to the monitor and an audible alarm is emitted. This alerts attendants that the individual being monitored has left the monitoring mat.
Current art teaches an alarm system that may be disarmed manually with a switch, thus permitting a patient with sufficient resolve and sophistication to disable the device and defeat effective monitoring. The present invention improves over the prior art by providing a system monitor that may be disabled only through the use of a magnetic key, adapted for use with a particular monitor, and employed by placing the key on a defined magnetic key surface area.
The foregoing patents and other referenes reflect the current state of the art of which the present inventor is aware. Reference to, and discussion of, these references is intended to aid in discharging Applicant's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information that may be relevant to the examination of claims to the present invention. However, it is respectfully submitted that none of the above-indicated patents disclose, teach, suggest, show, or otherwise render obvious, either singly or when considered in combination, the invention described and claimed herein.